Palm oil

One of the most important “horror stories” in the food market for domestic consumers was palm oil. Even the State Duma deputies studied the work of this popular ingredient. True, the bulk of loud statements about colic, constipation, quality and conditions of creation and transportation are still myths. Why not give consumers an opportunity to figure out what is offered to them? Their thoughts are divided experts on oil and fat products, which debunk popular myths about palm oil.

Palm oil is obtained from the trunk of a palm tree.

This vegetable oil is actually extracted from the fruit of the oil palm, and not from its trunk. They hang in the form of a bunch, having 3-4 centimeters in diameter and outwardly reminding the dates. Oil from the flesh of this fruit, if it is extracted from the nucleolus, it is called palm kernel. The main difference between palm oil and other plant analogs is its consistency, it is naturally firm. The closer to the north oil plants grow, the more polyunsaturated fatty acids are found in their seeds, and the southern plants can boast of saturated acids. They make palm oil from the southern countries hard. Due to this property of the product, it is possible to form and stabilize the desired shape of the finished samples on its basis.

In the stomach, palm oil does not melt, but turns into a sticky mass, like plasticine.

There are fears that after consumption, palm oil will kill the digestive system. In the stomach, the products do not melt, but are digested. Then they enter the digestive tract in the form of an emulsion, and the final assimilation takes place there. If it were not for such a system, then we would quickly get inside with solid and semi-molten products. So palm oil – it can not remain in the body, but is absorbed in the usual way. This does not mean that you can eat it a lot, but to the extent that it is used in the food industry, this substance does not represent harm.

In palm oil, there are far fewer nutrients than in other vegetable oils.

Due to its energy value, palm oil differs little from other oils and fats. Its indicator is 9 kcal per gram. In palm oil it is not difficult to find natural provitamin A (carotenoid), vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols), coenzyme Q10, and also vitamins B6, D and F. There is no cholesterol in it, as in other vegetable oils. And there are few polyunsaturated fatty acids Omega-3 and Omega-6. During processing, most vegetable oils are still treated and refined. But in this case, along with impurities, useful substances also disappear. When comparing processed sunflower and palm oil it is found that the nutrients in them are kept approximately equally. At the same time, there will be more of them in unrefined oils. That’s why if you want to use the most useful vegetable oil, you should buy it in unrefined form and not fry, but simply use it as a food additive. There is a product such as red palm oil. It is not processed after receipt, which allows to preserve the aforementioned useful substances.

The composition of palm oil contains dangerous trans fats.

If there are indeed a lot of trans fats in the body, then this will entail trouble. Because of them, the blood levels of cholesterol and the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. It’s only in palm oil that there are no trans fats at all. A large number of them appear when, during production, liquid vegetable oil is required to be made solid. For example, it is needed to make margarine. This process is called hydrogenation. As a result, a product is formed that can be kept well at room temperature. But palm oil is inherently solid in nature, which is why hydrogenation is not affected. And in it, trans fats take nowhere.

Palm oil is chosen by manufacturers because of its cheapness.

This product is really cheap, domestic sunflower oils are more expensive. The fact is that on the plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, where the raw material comes from, the productivity is high. But the use of oil is predetermined not only by its cheapness, by no means saving – the main criterion. Technologists say their word. Some confectionery without the use of this solid oil is simply impossible to create. We are talking about glaze, different confectionery fillers, margarine. Once used for this purpose, liquid oils that have been hydrogenated. They became hard, but at the same time they contained a lot of trans fats. At the present time, it has become possible to use a much higher quality and safer product – a palm oil that is already hard by nature.

In Russia, palm oil is transported by technical grades, in oil tanks from Indonesia and Malaysia.

In Russia, the law clearly distinguishes between technical and edible oils. If the product does not meet food requirements, then it is not allowed to produce food. Technical palm oil can go to industry, like rape, technical sunflower and the like. And the history of the transportation of the product in tanks is a myth that has appeared due to illegal suppliers of oil. However, the large companies with which domestic producers operate have their own tank of tanks, which naturally meets all the safety criteria. And in every country there are influential organizations that deal with the regulation of transportation of products. From Malaysia and Indonesia, oil is brought to Russia by sea tankers. And the delivery procedure is carefully regulated by international standards.

Palm oil is not allowed in developed countries.

No country in the world prohibits the use of palm oil. Malaysia and Indonesia do not sell it to poor countries in Africa. 10% of the world’s volume is purchased by a fully developed America. Europe consumes palm oil almost 5 times more than Russia. 13% of this volume falls on Germany, 15% – on England, Italy and the Netherlands. This product is also in demand in China.

Palm oil is added to baby food products, which harms the health of children.

In the baby food, this oil is an important and even necessary component. When an alternative to women’s milk is being sought, it is necessary to create the whole set of unique fatty acids. One of them is palmitic, which is necessary for the growth of the child and its development. Producers of mixtures can replace the human breast milk with certain fractions of palm oil. Baby food is generally a complex product of many components. On palm oil alone, nobody does it. But even if you refuse such a product at all, the necessary combination can not be created.

Palm oil is generally used in the production of soap and in metallurgy, it is unsuitable for eating.

And it can be said even more, this product was part of napalm in the years of World War II. However, this does not mean its harm to health. We do not refuse water on the grounds that it is used to make obviously inedible concrete. Currently, up to 80% of palm oil goes to food production, and the rest – to industry and cosmetics, make of it and biofuel.

Palm oil is a rarity.

In total, about 170 million tons of vegetable oils are produced a year, a third of this volume is palm oil. Its exports increased 4-fold over the past 20 years.